Former radio executive, country singer Henderson dies

In 1960, Louis G. Hess, then a disc jockey at KEEN radio in San Jose, Calif., was sent by that station's owners to Las Vegas to help open KVEG 840-AM.

The new country-western station's management then issued him and the other on-air personalities Western-sounding names, which included Ben Boulder, Johnny Gun and the moniker Hess was stuck with -- Bat Henderson.

"He really didn't like the name," Joyce Hess, his wife said, noting that his new first name was taken from Old West figure Bat Masterson and the new last name was that of a then-small town just southeast of Las Vegas.

"After a while, it just stuck. Few people in Las Vegas ever knew his real name," she said.

Henderson, a former vice president of KRGN, which today is KFM 102-FM, and a former singer with Foy Willing and the Riders of the Purple Sage, the backup band for the late Gene Autry, has died in Kingman, Ariz., he was 69.

Henderson suffered an apparent heart attack at his Dolan Springs, Ariz., home on Jan. 18 and was pronounced dead upon his arrival at a hospital in Kingman that same day. Services were last Thursday at Palm Mortuary in Las Vegas.

Henderson lived in Las Vegas for 39 years. He and his wife have maintained homes in Las Vegas and Dolan Springs since 1991.

"Bat was a fabulous mentor to me when I was a teenager," said Las Vegas attorney Jim Crockett. "He was my speech coach for the Optimist Club's oratory contests. It was his coaching that enabled me to win first place awards for speech writing and oratory. I still have those trophies.

"Because I'm a trial lawyer, the things Bat taught me about talking slowly and speaking with clarity have helped me tremendously."

In the early 1960s Henderson took Crockett and other local children to the radio station to watch him make commercials.

"He had a beautiful radio voice," Crockett said. "If he would flub up while taping a commercial, he would change the copy by choosing simpler words."

Born Sept. 21, 1929, in Muncie, Ind., Henderson began his entertainment career in the 1940s, touring for 15 years as a guitarist and singer with the Riders of the Purple Sage and Autry.

After a stint in the Army in the mid-1950s, Henderson got a disc jockey job at KEEN. After three years at KVEG, he became the station's general manager. In 1965 he opened his own local advertising agency.

In 1970 Henderson bought 25 percent interest in KRGN from his friend Don Gilday. While serving as the station's vice president and general manager, Henderson worked there as a disc jockey.

Henderson left after the station was sold in 1974. Years later, Henderson and Gilday opened KITT radio in Las Vegas, where he also worked as a DJ.

In the mid-1970s Henderson did promotional work for the Sun. He wrote the jingle "Get the Sun in the morning and the news that's right." The Sun was the area's morning newspaper until 1990 when it became an afternoon daily.

Also, Henderson designed and sold ads for the Sun's 25th anniversary supplement in 1975 and put together a major radio and billboard campaign for the paper.

Henderson and Gilday later operated a local real estate company until Gilday's death in the late 1980s.

After a brief stint as a disc jockey at KRAM, Henderson retired in 1989. Two years later his wife became the proprietor of a contract post office in Dolan Springs, and the couple split their time between the two communities.

"My husband's philosophy was if you have to cry, do it and then laugh," Joyce Hess said. "He had a wonderful sense of humor and could find good in just about everything. And he loved to do things to help children in need."

As a member of the Optimist Club, Henderson served on the board of directors and was a driving force behind the construction of the Optimist Boys Home.

He also was a member of the National Association of Broadcasters, the Las Vegas Board of Realtors, the Kentucky Colonels and the Elks, where he was active in Helldorado Days and the rodeo for many years. He served as the event's publicity chairman in the 1960s and '70s.

In addition to his wife, Henderson is survived by three daughters, Teresa Hess and Tina Scott, both of Las Vegas, and Laura Ladner of Ft. Worth, Texas; a sister, Evelyn Elwell of Indiana; seven grandchildren and five nieces and nephews.

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